Luke chapter 19. I've really
never seen this before, so I'm excited about it. I'm excited
about it. Luke chapter 19, and we'll start
reading in verse 28. And we'll go through verse 40.
So start in Luke chapter 19, and we'll start in verse 28. And when He, that is Christ,
had thus spoken, He went before ascending up to Jerusalem. And
it came to pass, when Christ was nigh to Bethphage and Bethany
at the mount called the Mount of Olives, he sent two of his
disciples, saying, Go ye into the village over against you,
into which at your ending you shall find a colt tied, whereon
yet never man sat. Loose him, and bring him hither. And if any man ask you, why do
you loose him, thus shall you say unto him, because the Lord
hath need of him. And they that were sent went
their way and found, even as Christ had said unto them, and
as they were loosening the colt, the owners thereof said unto
them, Why loose ye the colt? And they simply said, The Lord
has need of him. And they brought him to Jesus,
and they cast their garments upon the colt, and they set Jesus
thereon. And as Christ went, they spread
their clothes in the way, And when he was come nigh, even now
at the descent of the Mount of Olives, the whole multitude of
the disciples began to rejoice and praise God with a loud voice
for all the mighty works that they had seen, saying, Blessed
be the King that comes in the name of the Lord. Peace in heaven
and glory in the highest. And some of the Pharisees from
among the multitude said unto him, Master, rebuke thy disciples. And Christ answered and said
unto them, I tell you that if these should hold their peace,
the stones would immediately cry out." And what would they
cry out? The King cometh. The King cometh in the name of
the Lord. Peace in heaven and glory in
the highest." They began to rejoice and praise God, and that's what
they said. And he said, the Pharisees, they didn't like it. They said,
tell your disciples to stop, these people to stop. And Christ
said, no. If I told them to stop, these
stones would cry out. So the title of this message
is, if these stones could talk. If these stones could talk. And I ask you simply, could these
stones speak? If our Sovereign so chose to
allow it, yes, they could. And according to the context
of Luke chapter 19 that we read, what would they do? They would
begin to praise God. These stones that were around
Him, if He so chose, He could loosen the donkey's mouth that
the donkey could speak, so they could if it was His will to do
so. They would not cease to cry out in praise and adoration and
true worship of this, their great God. And I exhort each and every
one of us this morning, this is what I want us to do in this
time, and you could say especially in this time, but all times,
to imitate these rocks, to imitate these stones in this book And
today, mimic what they would have done, and every day. So let's take a look at some
stones in Scripture, okay? In this book, and see what they
saw, and note what they note. If these stones could talk, what
would they say? Because we, says Peter, are lively
stones, the believer, are built up a spiritual house, a holy
priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God
by Jesus Christ. So the believers liken them to
stones as well. So let us go back, and I've just got several
examples, but we could look and do a Strong's or a Concordance
and look up the word stones, and you'll see a bunch of them.
So what these stones saw, they saw the majesty of creation. As God spoke them into existence,
they could surely speak of the handiwork of God in their formation
from chaos to order. God spoke in Genesis, and it
was. Basically, these stones, if they
opened up their mouth, they could speak of ancient things in ancient
times regarding the ancient of days. So let us learn to do the
same thing. As their God, the rocks and stones,
is our God. Genesis chapter 28. Genesis chapter 28. And verses 18 through 22, And
Jacob rose up early in the morning, and took the stone that he had
put for his pillow, and set it up for a pillar, and poured oil
upon the top of it, and called the name of that place Bethel.
But the name of the city was called Luz at the first. And
Jacob bowed about, saying, if God will be with me and will
keep me in this way that I go, and will give me bread to eat
and raiment to put on, so that I come again to my father's house
in peace, then shall the Lord be my God. And this stone, which
I have set for a pillar, shall be God's house. And of all that
thou shalt give me, I will surely give the tenth unto thee. This
is the stone, stones that Jacob used for pillows. And then he
built there an altar. And he called the name of the
place Bethel, or the house of God. God gives and we give back. In short, that's the life of
the believer. God has given us grace. And we don't do it. We don't charge God. If you do
this for me, I'm going to do this for you. We don't do that.
Jerry Lewis did that. And that's why he saw the telethons.
He prayed a vow to God. And so he bound himself by doing
those telethons forever. That's works. We're not into
that. But what we see is these stones, if they could speak,
they would see that they were called the house of God. Freely we have received and freely
we give. I'd say grace. Those stones were
grace. He had received something that
he didn't deserve. And he called that place the
house of God. Can we not bless God and rejoice
loudly for His giving us grace to worship in this place, in
Jackson? This, we could say, is a Bethel,
though God is not in the house, He's in our hearts, but when
we gather together, the collective, the local ecclesi, as it's called,
or the local body, God's there, if the gospel's there. Can we
not rejoice? Like these rocks, these stones? Oh, if they could talk, what
stories they would tell. We rejoice that He gave us grace
to acknowledge and to worship Him in this place here, perhaps
Jackson, where we worship His Son here, where His mercy is
found in Christ, which Christ is the very house of God. So
He takes these to just stones. But stones, as you know, are
significant throughout the whole Scriptures. So this first one,
it's the house of God. It's the grace of God. I know
we've talked about it and say it and this and everything. Bruce
mentioned it this morning. Eight souls. Eight souls. Noah. Eight souls. Preached the Gospel.
Got ridiculed. Got mocked. Eight souls. But
don't you know when he gathered together with those eight souls,
he was reminded of the grace of God that extended to him and
God did not have to in our way of thinking. Joshua chapter 4.
Turn with me to Joshua chapter 4. Joshua chapter 4 and verses 2. Let's read chapter 3. Joshua
chapter 3 verses 14 to 17 to set the stage. Chapter 3, verses 13-17, It shall
come to pass, as soon as the soles of the feet of the priests
that bear the ark of the Lord, that the Lord of all the earth
shall rest in the waters of Jordan, they're being led into Canaan,
Moses is gone by Joshua now, that's the story, that the waters
of Jordan shall be cut off from the waters that come down from
above, and they shall stand upon a heap. partially imagine that in my
mind's eye, but not really. And it came to pass, when the
people were removed from their tents to pass over Jordan, and
the priests bearing the Ark of the Covenant before the people.
And as they that bear the Ark were come into the Jordan, and
the feet of the priests that bear the Ark were dipped in the
brim of the water. Now listen, this is important,
for Jordan overflows all his banks, all the time of harvest. So they didn't cross it when
it was in the summer, in the height of summer and the water
was low. It's not like the Colorado River
towards the Mexico border, there's hardly anything there. This was
springtime, full-on Mississippi flood. That the waters which
came down from above stood and rose upon a heap very far from
the city of Adam, that is beside Zaretan, And those that came
down toward the sea of the plain, even the salt sea, failed and
were cut off. And the people passed over right
against Jericho. And the priests that bear the
ark of the covenant of the Lord stood firm on dry ground. Explain that one. I can't. In
the midst of Jordan and all the Israelites passed over on dry
ground until all the people were passed clean over Jordan. Chapter 4, verse 1, And it came
to pass, when all the people were clean passed over Jordan,
that the LORD spake unto Joshua, saying, Take ye twelve men out
of the people, out of every tribe of man, and command ye them,
saying, Take ye hence out of the midst of Jordan, out of the
place where the priests' feet stood firm, twelve stones, and
ye shall carry them over with you, and leave them in the lodging
place where ye shall lodge this night. Then Joshua called the
twelve men whom he had prepared, of the children of Israel out
of every tribe of man. In verse 5, And Joshua said unto
them, Pass over before the ark of the Lord your God in the midst
of Jordan, and take ye up every man of stone upon his shoulder,
according to the number of tribes of the children of Israel. And
they did that. And in verse 9, And Joshua set
up twelve stones in the midst of Jordan, in the place where
the feet of the priests which bear the ark of the covenant
stood, And they are there unto this day. Well, if these stones
could speak, what would they see? What would they say? They
saw the miracle at Jordan, the river, across the river. God
is still performing miracles of salvation as His truth is
being proclaimed and believed. That's what we see. Cry out,
my brethren, of the wonder of free, sovereign grace, performed
and secured and satisfied by the Lord Jesus Christ, who He
Himself took the flood of God's wrath on our behalf, and we,
just like verse 17 of chapter 3, the last phrase, and all the
people were passed clean over. Your sins are gone. Your sins
are gone. They're clean gone. They are
taken care of. That's what these stones saw.
That's what they would shout. Woe to that person to whom salvation
is old news. Woe to that person, whether they
profess or not, to that person, to those people who the Lord
has become not precious. And we get stale. We can get
stale. And he says in here, verse 6 of chapter 4, that you do this,
that this may be a sign among you that when your children ask
their fathers in time to pass, saying, what meaneth these stones? Driving home from church? Maybe your kids are gone, moved
out of the house, married, left. There's no stipulation as to
when, why or how. You tell them about what these
stones are. You tell them how God saves sinners. You tell them
how God can be just and justify the ungodly. And it's not a,
oh, it's just so terrible. No, if these stones could cry
out, they would cry out. to the King of Glory. We tell our children, yes, it's
a trial, it's a struggle, but we tell them there's nothing
like it. To be a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ. Oh, happy,
happy day when Jesus took our sins away. Joshua chapter 8.
Joshua chapter 8, verse 30 and 31. Joshua chapter 8. Then Joshua built an altar unto
the Lord God of Israel in Mount Ebal, as Moses the servant of
the Lord commanded the children of Israel, as it is written in
the book of the law of Moses, an altar of whole stones, over
which no man hath lifted up any iron. And they offered thereon
burnt offering unto the Lord, and sacrificed peace offerings."
This context of the story is Just right on the heels of this,
Joshua had just given victories at Jericho and Ai, and he builds
an altar of whole stones. What do these stones speak and
see and cry out? God is ever our deliverer. God
is ever our strong defense. God is our sure footing in an
enemy land. And offerings were pushed. upon
these stones. They speak of our offering for
sacrifice and praise unto our ever-gracious Lord. We are allowed
to come into the presence of God through this, that is our
Emmanuel, and He provides unto our God a sweet-smelling sacrifice. And time would not allow me to
tell of the altar built by Noah right after the flood. He built
an altar. Those stones saw something. In
Genesis chapter 8, right after the flood subsided, and there's
8 people. That's it. Or time would not allow me to
speak of Abram's altar built in Genesis chapter 12, or again
as Abraham in Genesis 22. Those were times of reflection,
times of worship, And boy, those stones could speak. These stones
all cried up and cried out for all to hear. If we indeed have
ears to hear, they cry out of God's greatness and goodness.
They belong only to God and all who serve Him in humble adoration. I love this one. 1 Kings chapter
6. And I preached this a while back ago. in chapter 6. There is so much in here, I'm
just going to hit some basics. 1 Kings 6, what do these stones
say? Verse 1 and verse 7. 1 Kings
6, verse 1, And it came to pass in the four hundred and eighteenth
year after the children of Israel will come out of the land of
Egypt, in the fourth year of Solomon's reign over Israel,
in the month Ziph, which is the second month that he began to
build the house of the Lord. Now, skip down to verse seven,
and this is what it's, he's describing the elements, the wood, he's
describing, he's architecting, he's describing what they're
gonna use, the materials. Look at verse seven, and the
house, which was in building, was built of stone, made ready
before it was brought to the site, so that there was neither
hammer nor axe nor any tool of iron heard in the house while
it was in building." These stones witness God's house
being built. Notice the description in verse
7. Is that predestination? I'd say
so. The stones were at the quarry
were cut to fit before they were even brought on site. We are
called, we are saved from before the foundation of the world.
Before they were brought in, it says they were built of stone
which was already made ready before it was brought in on the
site. That's election. That's predestination. That's glorious. That's glorious. Because if you had anything to
do, if I had anything to do with my salvation, it wouldn't be
sure to all to see. But these stones are in God's
house. And we're stones, we're lively
stones built up. This is talking about us. The
master builder, that's our Redeemer. I'm amazed that when stuff gets
built, they have architects and for the most part, everything
is followed exactly and it stands up. I really wouldn't want to
do that. I couldn't do that. But our master
builder, oh my, that's what these stones saw. These stones saw
that they were being made ready and we're being made ready. And
the beautiful thing is, is that there's not going to be any hammer,
nor axe, nor tool, or anything heard in this building when it's
finally complete. When we're finally complete,
when we're in glory, there will be no sounds of the works of
man in heaven. There will be no You're not going
to hear, you're not going to hear, I've decided for Jesus,
I came up and shook the preacher's hand, I did this, I did that. You're not going to, it's not
heard. There's neither hammer nor axe nor tool or iron heard
in the house. When we finally get the glory,
we're going to ascribe all glory. to His grace. There won't be
any of our stuff. No noise. So it will be in glory. No trace of human merit. And there's more in this. Go
back and look at it. It's absolutely incredible. These stones are set in their
proper place. What does the Scripture say? A mansion is being prepared
for us. And we're being prepared for
the mansion. It's already there. The stones are cut and set, and
they're set. They, these stones, and we see
and cry aloud, God's will shall be done. God's purpose of grace
will proceed right on schedule, right on time, without our puny
insignificant works involved. Oh, can we not praise Him for
His sweet abounding predetermined grace? That's what those stones
saw. Isaiah chapter 28, and verse
16, lest we forget who these stones
truly represent. It represents us. It represents
the house of God, this and that. But Christ will have the preeminence. Isaiah 28 and verse 16, Therefore
thus saith the Lord God, Behold, I lay in Zion for a foundation,
a stone, a tridestone, a precious cornerstone, a sure foundation. He that believeth shall not make
haste. We must always remember that
these precious stones are a lovely picture of our Lord
Jesus Christ, revealing this cornerstone, this elect and precious
chief stone to be our true and sure foundation and hope of eternal
life, Christ. If we are laid on Christ, we
will have a good foundation. He was crushed but not destroyed
for all who believe. This is all of God's doing and
it is marvelous in our eyes as well as God's eyes. Those who
put their trust in Christ as the song we sing a song find
in Him, find Him wholly true. Those who trust Him find Him
wholly true. And it's always been that case
whether we're in the midst of a crisis or not in the midst
of a crisis. He never changes. So now we've
seen in several instances of Scriptures, and I encourage you
to look for more, these stones cry out unto God. They've cried
out of the wonders of creation, the glory of free salvation,
the songs of new life, the stanzas of sovereign protection and care
of the church, the noteworthiness of praise and adoration to our
kinsmen Redeemer. In short, praise and rejoicing
heaped upon the Redeemer. as they themselves were used
to place the very sacrifice upon. So I ask you and I encourage
you with me to lift up our voices in such dark times as we are
living in. To the believer, you know, really
to the believer, it's always dark. This is not our home. You
know, the world has just got here, it's concentrated, skies
falling over here, woe is me is over here, But to the believer,
our home is not here. Our children may be here. Our
friends may be here. And that's why we get concerned. Because we're not unmoved by
tragedies and such things. And we face them. But we don't
weep like the world weeps. So let us during these times
and tomorrow to sing the anthem of the Lord our God in Christ
Jesus. As our Savior, I believe He told
Peter in Matthew 16, verse 18, and He said unto Peter, Thou
art Peter, and upon this rock, the rock of the truth, will I
build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against
it. This church will be here until
it's done. As that song we sang last week,
I think, mortals are immortal here until their work is done. So, let us sing like these rocks. If these people stop praising
God, these rocks, well, let us learn from the rocks. They're
our friends. They were created like us. Let us say, grace, grace
unto it. Day after day, as the people
of God, and this world is running around with chickens with their
head cut off and the sky is falling and all these different things,
let us say, herein we stand, we can do no other. Our God rules. Our God reigns. And we'll serve
the Lord. Like Joshua, as for me and my
house, we'll serve the Lord. And I've got a little saying
that I don't know where I got it. Melinda typed it up, put
it on my computer, my study desk. And I think it's appropriate.
It says, in happy moments, praise God. In difficult moments, seek
God. In quiet moments, worship God. But in every moment, thank God. Now, I wish I could stop there. But I can't. Because the Scriptures
doesn't. Turn to Revelation chapter 6. And I say this with all seriousness
and sobriety. I'll just read what it says,
and you can see it. Revelations chapter 6. If you do not praise God like
the rocks, if you do not worship God like the rocks, if you have
not been redeemed, rocks aren't redeemed, but you know what I
mean. If you do not so, if you do not
believe Him, these rocks, they witness the creation, they're
also going to witness this. Revelation 6, verse 16. And the mighty men and the bondmen
and everybody hid themselves in the dens and they said in
verse 16, to the mountains and the rocks, to the stones, fall
on us and hide us from the face of Him that sits on the throne
and from the wrath of the Lamb. For the great day of His wrath
has come and who shall be able to stand. These stones will attest
to God's righteous judgment as well as they've attested to His
mercy and salvation and grace and love and hope and peace.
But these stones will be there as well. And they will attest
God is right and God is just. How dare you, how dare I not
trust His Son. Well, may we flee from the wrath
to come. And may we lay hold upon this
immovable, strong, and sure stone of grace, Jesus the Christ. Because is He not the cleft in
the rock? I just thought about that. There
are so many illustrations. He hides my soul in the cleft
of the rock. Or what he's saying, He hides
my soul in Him. to be in Christ, oh, that will be glory. Brandon, would you close?